Bloodletting

Blood. Dark red, sticky.... Blood. The stuff that can save you or kill you. Either way you cannot live without it. I can. But I can't live without my synthetic stuffing. Or Banana juice. Lucky for me. Both are readily available at the nearest store. But every day some human needs blood. Lucky for those someones my Mom gives blood all the time. So does my Dad. I go with Mom to keep her company. Sometimes we give red blood cells. That takes little longer. We don't mind. We watch a movie on the Ipod, or read while we are giving. But most importantly we GIVE blood. So many people need Blood or parts of blood everyday. Young people, old people, moms, dads, babies and kids. It's sooooo important for everyone to give blood. I don't understand why more people don't give blood. I hope you read this and find it in your heart to make the time to give this one thing that is truly the gift of life. Yes THE GIFT OF LIFE. It costs nothing to give and it the most valuable of all things. More valuable than diamonds, gold or designer suits. People cannot live with diamonds flowing through their veins. And is there not something to be said for giving a bit of your life, your very essence to another in need?

Blood is used in lots of ways. Here is a little bit about it:

Blood is almost never used in its whole form. Most patients requiring transfusions only need one or two of the many components that make up blood. It would be wasteful and sometimes harmful to give the patient blood components they do not need.
More than 99% of the whole blood collected in this region is separated into blood components that can be used to treat the specific medial needs of three or more people. Below are some of the products derived from whole blood:
Red blood cells carry oxygen and are needed by surgical patients or to treat those with anemia. Platelet concentrates are fragile blood cells that are an important part of the body's clotting system. They are used to control bleeding in the course of treatment of leukemia and other forms of cancer.
Plasma is the yellow liquid portion of blood. It restores fluid volume in patients who have suffered from shock and provides a source of clotting proteins that stop bleeding.
Cryoprecipitate is a part of plasma that contains certain clotting factors found in whole blood. It is used to treat clotting deficiencies like those found in people with hemophilia..